How To Save A Life
by iridescentbutterflywings
Summary: Gill Hamilton hadn't always been the cold individual that he was now known as. There were times when people could remember the young man being warmer and kind, but after some incidents in his life, the snow of winter didn't seem to melt off of him. Everything changes when someone, a blast from the past, comes back to set things right.
1. Prelude

**_Disclaimer_**_**:**_ _I do not own Harvest Moon or its characters. The only character that is my own is the** Imaginary Friend**. _

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_"Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend, somewhere along in the bitterness," - The Fray, How To Save A Life_

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Every Sunday afternoon, according to family tradition, was spent at the Ocarina Inn. It was a place where the happy family could continue to be happy while indulging in Yolanda and Colleen's fine cooking while chatting here and there with Jake when he wasn't dealing with customers. Maya toddled around, trying to keep up with Gill and Chase's shenanigans while another little girl, sat off to the side and watched with her head between her hands as the boys and girl played. She had promised Gill that she wouldn't partake in today's activities, worrying her friend with her nausea and pain but it all meant something much more. Her time with him was ending and she'd flitter off to another child, someone in dire need of friend like Gill had been before finally breaking out of his shell.

The Wizard knew and understood her predicament, they were one in the same as he liked to say (although it always took him a minute or two to get it out), and they just had different occupations when it came to their magic. He was the fortune teller of Castanet and she was an Imaginary Friend, real to the children but unreal to the adults that surrounded them even though her shape could shift to fit the needs of whoever she was with. It pained her to watch him, smiling and running about as Maya tried to keep up with him and Chase – the peach-haired child had been in need of a friend too, at such a young age, Chase was already bursting at the seams with sarcasm and pessimism. Traits, that she hoped wouldn't be passed onto Gill through their continued friendship.

Hamilton and Elizabeth were seated, chatting among themselves and casting glances every now and again to their son and his friends. Making sure that he was safe, they were lovely parents, Gill looked just like his mother who was so beloved by the people. It was the same with his father, a Mayor so beloved by his people, but unlike Elizabeth – he didn't really share anything in common with his son other than his laugh and smile. Yet, they taught him everything that they could to mold him into a good person, a better mayor, and someday (as she had heard from his mother) a more splendid husband than his father. It brought a smile onto her face to see him so happy, looking her way every now and again to make sure that she was feeling alright and she was, despite the feeling that she had swallowed a thousand needles.

Gill Hamilton, the golden boy of Harmonica Town was nearing the end of his childhood. In less than a month, actually, in less than a week, the nine-year-old boy would be turning ten. The end of childhood and the beginning of something bigger and better for him, and he honestly couldn't wait for it to happen. He had been acting a bit brattier than usual to everyone, including his best friend that sat off to the side; he was trying to act big and bad. He often dismissed her from his company nowadays, preferring to spend it with Chase and Luna, and a couple of the other kids that lived here. She had tried, he knew, to tell him something over the past couple of weeks but he hadn't found the time to listen. It couldn't be anything incredibly serious, he told himself, they were just kids and nothing serious ever happened to them. Especially if you lived on Castanet, it was the same routine, over and over again which he promised to fix once he was mayor.

"Gill, sweetheart. Come and eat your ice cream, it'll melt if you don't," Elizabeth Hamilton's voice dragged him from his thoughts, he was on the floor, eyes fixated on the ceiling and breathing heavily while Chase and Maya laid off to his sides, doing the exact same except they weren't getting a treat like he was. Getting up and hurrying over, he plopped himself down in the chair beside his mother and began to stuff his face. An unsophisticated way of acting but he supposed it could be forgiven for now; he'd just have to refrain himself next time. He had suspected that she would still be there when he looked up from his bowl but she wasn't, his best friend had disappeared without even saying goodbye, and he would just have to confront her about that later on tonight for the annual children's bonfire.

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The day faded into night, the warmth of summer had disappeared long ago and the chilliness of winter was beginning to settle in. It was the most perfect place to have a bonfire, the sand was soft beneath their feet and bodies and it seemed like the warmth of the fire was ten times better here than anywhere else. The dark blue, nearly black sky was painted over with stars and a nearly full moon with a gentle but chilly breezing rolling over the land as the children enjoyed their last bonfire until the springtime. Everyone was there, enjoying themselves by laughing or playing, making the smores or doing whatever they felt like doing because they could.

Gill hadn't seen her once tonight, his eyes had roamed over the familiar faces of his peers but they had yet to land on her. She didn't stand these sort of things up, ever since they were little, she had loved the bonfires and now, all of the sudden, she was standing them up? It made the already irritated boy more irritated as he plopped himself down onto the ground, arms crossing over his chest and huffing. It was all incredibly unfair, he didn't deserve to be stood up, he was Gill Hamilton and they were best friends. Best friends didn't do this sort of thing but then again, he hadn't really been acting like her friend and maybe, she was upset over that. He believed it to be stupid, complaining to an exasperated Chase that couldn't get Maya to leave him alone because of her stupid crush on him. "She can't just stand me up, we're best friends and we always come to these things together!" he groaned, his pale cheeks growing a bit red from the cold and from anger. "Well, go tell her that. She lives on that dinky little farm, doesn't she?"

Chase had never been more right in his whole entire life, Gill nodded his head and slapped the peach-haired, violet-eyed boy on the back and murmured a quick "thank you" before darting off. He had been there a hundred times and more, the way to her house was engrained in his mind and was probably as familiar as the feeling of his parents under the same roof and in the room right next to his. There wasn't much variety in the scenery that he passed, most of the things were dying or already dead but would come back in the springtime. He could remember the times when they had played hide-and-seek, pretended to be the king and queen of the world, and a bunch of things that he would no longer partake in after his birthday. He would be a man and a man didn't do childish things.

The plot of land was decent, the fall crops had already been harvested and the fields hadn't been plowed or weeded. Quite an eyesore, he admitted to himself as he grimaced at the state of the land. It was a decently sized house, enough to fit the three measly people that lived under its roof; it was a homey little place. Gill had spent most days here when she had been his only friend, they were practically like family but recently, that had begun to change along with everything else. Being the perceptive boy that he had always been known as, he noticed the changes in his mother's behavior and the way she acted, everything seemed a little forced and his father appeared to be the same way. Where there hadn't been lines or creases in his skin, they had begun to appear, a bit prematurely as Gill would add. He'd just have to talk to them; figure out what was the big secret that they were hiding from their one and only son, their pride and joy as they told him before kissing and ruffling his white-blond hair.

The wooden door to the front was already cracked, someone must have forgotten to lock it or they had just recently come in from whatever their tasks for their evening had been. The lights were shut off and the building seemed almost foreboding, it didn't streak him as the house that he remembered. He didn't want to waste any more time, things needed to be settled and he needed to get whatever he was feeling about their predicament off his chest. Barreling forward and through the door, Gill suspected someone to wake up and flick on the lights to see what creature had gotten into their home. Yet, nothing came and his eyes opened after being squeezed shut in fear that someone would shout at him. His mouth was agape as he took in his surroundings, the furniture was gone and it looked like everything had aged ten years over night. The Harmon family was no longer there, in fact, it looked like they hadn't been there at all.

He wasn't sure what happened next, what he could remember before waking up back at home in his bed with his parents worried faces coming into view before anything else, was running around the two-storied house like a crazed man. Screaming for his friend to quit playing with him and come out, that the joke that she was playing on him wasn't very funny and he was getting worried. They were still friends, he still cared and he didn't like the feeling that made it feel like his heart had been kicked out of his chest. Nothing seemed to work and he fell to the floor, curled himself up and cried and screamed until he couldn't do either anymore. Waking up was no relief to him, his parents couldn't get him to talk and he could hear his mother cry in the other room that she didn't understand what could have possibly happened to her baby.

A letter was waiting for him, brought in by his father with a solemn expression on his face as he whispered that he might want to read it. The familiar handwriting was the thing that made him jolt upward, snatch it from his bedside table and rip it open feverously. The contents weren't exactly what he wanted to read, his once hopeful expression dissolved into what the world would probably one day deem the most pathetic expression, the tears were back and all he could do for the next week was cry. He had lost a friend and he would never be able to say goodbye or apologize for his actions.

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**Hello, my dear readers. **

**This is _How To Save A__ Life,_ a new project. **

**Read, enjoy, and review if you like ~ **


	2. Present Day: Gill Hamilton

_**Disclaimer:**__I do not own Harvest Moon or its characters. I only own my own._

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At twenty-seven, Gill Hamilton liked to believe that he was successful and that he was attractive and cultured, and that he deserved only the best things in life. He also liked to believe that he didn't live on a decaying landmass and that no matter how hard he tried; he couldn't find a just cause in the reason that nature had become so wonky. It kept him awake at night, sitting atop his comforter with documents, old and new, spread out and weary eyes wandering over the same old information that he had come to know by heart. Nothing he ever did was good enough, the Harvest Goddess and the Harvest Sprites were supposed to rely on the residence of their land for help, and if anyone could help them – it was him. He knew these things inside out, thanks to his mother, who had sat him and his friend down to learn even though, she never did acknowledge the young Harmon girl that was constantly with him. Looking back on it, it gave him a weird feeling like she was nothing more than a figment of his imagination and that he was crazy, but then he would remember the other children. The people that he had grown up with and they remembered her too, they had mourned over her too. But those feelings had to be put on the backburner, just like his mother's death had been.

There were larger things at hand than things that haunted him from the past. His lips were pressed into a firm line as he organized the papers and slipped them into the manila folders that he had assigned them too. His father, even in his advancing age, wouldn't like to find him up this late despite being an adult. Although, he would admit that he was still Hamilton's son and living underneath his roof – something that he had retorted back to after returning from the mainland, not too long ago, in search of something or someone that could help rejuvenate Castanet and return it to its former glory. A sigh escaped his lips as he flung himself back, head landing on the pillow and his body curling up like he was still a child and that his mother would saunter in like it was nothing and tuck him in. Nights like this were always the hardest, his thoughts were demons that wished only to hurt him and he did the best to portray the exact opposite of what he heard in his head. Gill was privileged, he was sophisticated and he was one of the more eligible bachelors. If you weren't graveling at his feet then you weren't worth his time, in fact, he deemed a lot of the company that he kept not worth his time but he had to keep good relations. Good relations granted you power and he needed power, it was the only comfort that he could find.

Fall, the sentimental season as he had overheard Luke telling Owen one evening at the Brass Bar. He had went to say that he got sad for no reason and though, Gill hated to admit it – he completely understood and agreed with what the man child said. Sleep was not coming easy and like most nights when it didn't come easy, he found his way out of bed and out the house, and into the cold world outside the warm doors of the Hamilton home. A routine had been made of these evenings, Harmonica Town would be roamed and he'd try to find things that he hadn't seen before but of course, there was nothing new to be found in his own too familiar settings and then he'd make his way down to the cemetery and let the quiet engulf him as he sat in front of his mother's grave. Elizabeth Hamilton, a woman so beloved by her people and taken so early, she hadn't even gotten to enter her forties when the illness took her. It made him angry that no one could help her, that several doctors couldn't prolong her life for a couple more years or completely obliterating the disease that riddled her bones. His father had been the same, it had been a time of bonding for the two when she passed but it didn't take long for the mayor to revert back to his typical happy ways. Hamilton had brought home Irene one evening, a mindless chat as he remembered, and explained that he had seen Elizabeth in his dreams and that she told him to leave behind the negative feelings. That they didn't suit him whatsoever and she wanted her husband to be happy even if she wasn't with him. It made Gill wondered why his mother hadn't done the same for him or if his father was just becoming a drunk, becoming a little too fond of several tonics that he wouldn't have been caught drinking if she were still around.

The cemetery was his place of peace for an hour or two before getting off his butt, dusting one of the few pair of blue jeans that he owned before making his way into the district that they now just called Clarinet Ranch. There it sat, in shambles and without the warmth that it once radiated when she lived there. It was his other place of peace and most nights, he found himself falling asleep on the floor and waking up in the wee hours of the morning so that he could return home without looking like a loon. Chase had told him that he cared too much about what other people thought of him, they were still best friends after all these years, and Gill believed that the peach-haired man was the only one that understood him. Knew what he was going through and why the once warmer, kinder, and gentler Gill had disappeared. The door had fallen off some time ago, lying against the broken wooden floor of the porch and he overstepped it, trying to be as careful as he could be so that this sanctuary of his couldn't become anymore broken than it already was.

It was like taking a step back into the past, a feeling of nostalgia that hit hard and if he hadn't been so used to shutting the tears and feelings out than he probably would have cried. That little boy had disappeared a long time ago, he tried to reassure himself that he was stronger than he was before and that this was all for the best, and that this was what made Luna attracted to him and him to her. She could fuel all the emotions, the emotions that he had forgotten how to express without seeming like a complete and utter jerk because he didn't know what to say. Things just came out wrong, they never sounded right when they were up in the air like they did when they were in his head. Taking his usual spot in the child's bedroom, he laid himself down and looked up through the nearly nonexistent roof that was over his head. Stars dotted the night sky and the moon was waning, and the sky was just as dark as ever. It was times like this when he could find sleep, a dreamless slumber that he would awaken from in only a few hours.

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The early hours of the morning and the darkest hours of the night were Gill's favorite times. It often brought on scolding from his father when he waltzed into the town hall with coffee in hand. This particular morning, Hamilton looked completely exasperated as his son came through the door with a cocky smile on his face. "Gilly! Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you!" he sounded strained, his round cheeks were flushed a bright red and a bead of sweat was finding its way down his forehead. A large amount of paperwork was sitting atop the table, the name obscured from his view. "Why? You ought to be a pro at this or is it becoming too strenuous for you, father?" his voice wasn't quite as deep as his father's, where Hamilton was a baritone, Gill was somewhere in the tenor range, not quite low but not quite high – he sat right in the middle. A pleasant voice as Luna had told him, a flirty smile on her face and cheeks a light pink.

The pointed look was something new, it wasn't exactly what he expected from his short father as he sat himself down and sighed, shoulders slumping as he seemingly claimed defeat. "The work isn't becoming strenuous son, it's the fact that the old house… Clarinet Ranch needs to be spruced up a bit," he murmured, not knowing how his son would react by the news. A look of initial surprise came onto his face as Gill found a seat, taking a sip of coffee for whatever confidence it could muster him to have. "What do you mean? The house is in complete shambles, only an idiot would move into that sort of environment," he countered, his expression changing immediately as seriousness washed over him. No one could move into that house, it wasn't possible. He was being selfish, he had claimed it as his house in the time that she had been gone and the fact that it needed sprucing up meant one thing. Someone was moving in.

"Well, that isn't very kind to say. The young lady doesn't necessarily sound like an idiot but she saw my ad in the paper, and said that she'd move in on any date that was possible," hopefulness plagued Hamilton's voice now, a weary smile gracing his features as a pudgy hand went to smooth the gray hair that stuck up on the top of his head. The ad was what was bringing this lady here, he felt like a woman scorned as he glared at his father especially when he knew the significance of that house. "She can't possibly live in /that/ house, you promised that I'd be able to move into it once I got the money," Gill's voice had gotten increasingly serious, a little hostile but Hamilton wasn't one to be bullied. He had been a formidable enemy when he was a teenager but also a formidable ally when he was a child, and now as an adult. "Gilbert Augustus Hamilton, you will not bully me into relinquishing from this woman's ownership. She had already paid the 5,000 gold," he answered, the playfulness of the elderly mayor was lost for only a second before he reverted back. A stupidly happy smile spread out across his features as he got up and moved to the bookcase, looking back at his fuming son. "You'll be showing her around when she gets here," he told him, wagging a finger at him before his attention went back to the bookcase.

Typically, he wouldn't have minded a new person on the landmass had it not fallen on hard times and the mere fact that this lady was moving into that house, his house,_ her house_. "When will she be getting here?" it was hard to seem excited, Gill no longer wanted his coffee and would probably end up trashing it when it got back to the house, and then write in the journal that his mother had suggested that he keep when he turned ten. She had hoped that it'd help draw him out of the funk that he had set himself in after his friend's disappearance.

Hamilton didn't even turn around, the smile growing a bit wider on his face that it almost seemed disproportionate. "She'll be here tomorrow."

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**Hello there! **

**An update on this lovely story ~ I'll probably end up sprucing the chapter up later on. **

**But here it is! Enjoy. c: **


	3. Present Day: Minerva Bane

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own Harvest Moon or its characters._

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_"You used to play outside when you were young,_

_full of life and full of love." - Little Talks, Of Monsters and Men_

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Her job was an overly complicated thing to explain to other people that weren't in the same line of work, there was only so much information that she could give out without making herself look like a total loon in the process. Who would believe someone if they said they worked as an "Imaginary Friend"? They wouldn't, they'd laugh right in her face and say she was crazy for even saying such a thing. Many believed that she worked at one of the big-shot newspaper firms under a pseudonym and that's why she was gone so often and for so long, she was off having adventures and living life to the fullest. She did nothing to dispel these rumors, just smiled and nodded along with whatever they said whenever she was back in town after one of her many assignments. It almost came naturally, like a second nature, to lie to everyone and around and conjure up stories to please them so it seemed like she was actually doing more than breaking the hearts of children when she had to go. Of course, they didn't ever deal with that pain for more than a day because they'd forget her by morning, they would wake up and not remember a thing and go on with their life like nothing had ever happened. It was all in the deal, something she sometimes (most of the time) regretted making with her master. It was the life that she had wanted all those years ago and she was finally reaping what she had sowed.

The perks of magic and being immortal were nothing compared to the flaws that each held. You would watch the people that you held so dear die and the process only repeated itself, the Wizard had warned as did the Witch, they both had looked out for the girl despite their distaste for one another. They wrote often and she replied, telling them of her latest assignments and how being an "Imaginary Friend" was, and the couple of things that she did on her sabbaticals. They were both genuinely interested in her life as she was theirs, and she missed them dearly, figuring that no other magical being could possibly understand her as well as the Witch and Wizard of Castanet did. A sigh, a sad one at that, passed her lips as she looked over the contents of letters from the most recent to years ago that were scattered across her dingy dining room table. Her sabbaticals were getting longer, others had noticed the change in their own schedules and they had been called together. It was like they were getting laid off, this was the only thing they were good at and the Elders (as they were called) told the few which included her to carry on with their lives, and that they would call on them when they were needed.

It was necessary for her to find something to fill her time, there just wasn't anything in the city that she wanted the do, none of the jobs called to her like they should and she didn't actually want to go and work for a newspaper firm like her friends believed she did. She had left the room, left the letters scattered about and sat outside on the balcony. Autumn had finally settled in, a cool breeze gusting through the streets of the city, a place that lacked the vibrancy that Castanet had during this season. It wasn't that the city wasn't vibrant, no, it was a beautiful city and as colorful as ever but the landscape didn't match the beauty that autumn had. She should have been able to see all the changing, the plants dying and preparing for hibernation only to sprout again in spring, and the animals preparing themselves for the same thing. The people would be roaming about, following roads that weren't paved and well-known like the back of their hands. They would be getting things ready for the winter as well, engaging in all the festivities that they had, and having a jolly good time. It brought tears to her eyes and nostalgia filled her heart, if only she could go back.

The more that she thought about it, the clearer it became that she could go back, set things right even though he wouldn't remember who she was and how they had known each other. That was how things worked for Imaginary Friends, Gill Hamilton; her lovely little white-blond, baby-blue-eyed boy was an adult now and no longer remembered her. Like all the other countless children that had come before and after him. A sad smile graced her face, tears finally escaping past her lids and she sobbed for a good few minutes, letting all the built-up feelings go. Reverting back to her former self, Minerva Bane hopped up and on her feet, determination in her heart and mind. It'd be a bit hard, finding an ad for any plot of land – Castanet wasn't a particularly well-known place and she doubted to an extent that Mayor Hamilton would be putting an ad or even a brochure out in the world, trying to draw new residence.

She was right; of course, it took her a good three to four hours to finally find an ad in one of the many papers that were scattered throughout the city. It must have been a couple weeks or possibly even years old; the paper was browning and easier to tear than usual. The town hall phone number was listed along with an email address, something that automatically made her laugh at the thought of Hamilton using a computer and not a typewriter or an older contraption. Minnie didn't waste time, her mind was set on going back, living on the island that she had come to love after being there for several years with Gill, with everyone, she told herself half-heartedly as she made the phone call. It felt like an eternity before someone answered, "hello? Mayor Hamilton here, you've reached the town hall." She could have blown it there, she had to try her hardest to surprise a giggle by the older man's joyous sing-song voice as she answered, "yes, hello, I'm Minerva Bane. I just saw an ad in the paper about a plot of land for sell. I was wondering if it has been bought yet."

Hamilton must have been surprised; it took him a moment to sputter out a reply to what she had said. He seemed genuinely happy, a bit relieved even by the sounds of it that she was interested in the plot. "No one has lived there in ages, it's a bit dilapidated but we can fix that before you get here," he assured, his voice cracking slightly on her end as she jot down the information on a notepad that she had grabbed a couple of seconds before. "Alright, I'll fax you the papers and pay upon getting there, cross my heart," she replied, chuckling along with Hamilton, who seemed all too grateful to her – a complete stranger for taking this off his hands. A responsible that the older man probably didn't want, she knew the house was probably in complete ruins and there would be a lot of work to put into the land. No one had taken care of it while she and her family were away or at least, that's what she suspected.

The call ended on a high note, a new feeling filled her chest as she roamed around the apartment, looking over her things and deciding what would stay here and what would go with her. A new set of luggage would have to be bought, update her actual passport and possibly get a whole new look for this whole new lifestyle. It was decided, decreed that nothing could get any better than this for the young woman. Nothing, everything in her life was going in the right direction and she wasn't about to screw it up, not again.

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**Hello, everyone ~ **

**This is the Imaginary Friend. Minerva Bane, who when she was Gill's friend, was Minerva Harmon. **

**The next chapter will be quite long, having both Gill and Minerva in it. **

**Enjoy, m'dears ~ I know I am. :)**


	4. The Beginnings to An End

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own Harvest Moon or its characters. _

_**Author's Note:**__ I apologize for taking so long to update. Life has gotten pretty hectic and I haven't had much time for anything besides schoolwork and looking for a job, and helping around the house since my dad's deployment. I hope y'all will forgive me for this because life is just crazy (and it doesn't help when professors are equally as crazy) but here is the update, and the newest chapter to How To Save A Life!_

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There just wasn't enough time in the day for this news to settle in. Already, the gossip had begun as people clamored together to discuss about the newest residence in hushed voices so that the entitled Mayor's Son didn't hear them. It had been a long time since anyone had found any interest in the farm, a fair few could recall the Harmon family and their success before disappearing off the face of the Earth before being shot a pointed glare by the blonde as he strut down the street to gather Luna and her sister for the loosely-based "family" dinner that they held at the Ocarina Inn on Tuesday and Thursday nights.

The night wasn't festive, only a few tables were actually accompanied by people as they whispered to one another either sweet words of romance or about the farm's sudden purchase from the newspaper ad that they had sent out years ago. He could probably listen for hours to these people ramble about that or to the girls yammering about designs and business, it was always Luna more than Candace, who often times looked his way with an expression that begged him to help her. Gill would have cut in, shushed Luna appropriately without hurting her feelings too much and continue to slip away into his thoughts as they carried on a more congenial topic discussion but tonight wasn't that night. The cool, blank exterior that Gilbert Hamilton had perfected was cracking along with his interior.

"Goodness, Gill. You'd think you would be more interested in our topic discussion," Luna whined with arms drawn over her chest, and cheeks red with either embarrassment or anger at the boy that she claimed to be in love with.

He didn't offer an apology or even a sympathetic look. "Excuse me," was all he said in a manner that seemed a bit abrupt and ushered himself out the door and into the cool, late fall evening.

The repercussions for such an act especially in public would be a lengthy apology (that he could or could not mean), flowers, and a promise that he would get more sleep and figure out a better work schedule because it was all the "stress" that had built up over the last few months. Gill promised himself that he would fix this after he cleared his head, making a beeline for the Church Grounds and stumbling down the weather-beaten steps to have a meet and greet with his mother for about the hundredth time. Elizabeth Hamilton would have known what to do, she had easily gotten herself out of predicaments without stepping on anyone's toes. Gill hadn't been so lucky and he still cursed the day when it found that out.

It was a rare occasion when another person came and visited the graveyard, the tombstones were usually left alone with no flowers leaned up against them or gifts that people thought their lost loved ones would appreciate. Mira was the only one to bring things, blue flowers adorned her husband's grave with a little handwritten note with "I miss yous" and "I love yous" probably written inside along with how life had been for her since his death. A grimace crossed his face, slender fingers running through the now messy white-blond hair before plopping himself down the ground. Elizabeth's grave looked like it had just been made the other day, the stone was kept relatively polished and cleaned from the muck (thanks to the combined effort of Perry and Gill) and flowers had twined themselves up the sides. His father's idea, he reminded himself dully as he looked at one of the petals and let a couple of tears slide down his cheeks before pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing, dabbing his face with the ends of his sleeves. Trying to regain control over his feelings.

"Mom, I don't know what to do. Father has sold the house, you know the one, it was always so important and it still is," there was an edge to his voice as he continued, "but he sold it. To some girl from the city that probably doesn't know the first thing about farming, carpentry, or anything for that matter!"

These things were mused angrily, a fist was slammed onto the ground and he kicked out at nothing but the air. Many would have found it hysterical that a man that was just a couple years shy of thirty was throwing a tantrum, no one had seen such a thing in ages and considered them a figment of imagination if brought up. He didn't expect Elizabeth to reply but he nodded his head after a few moments, pretending that she had offered him a tidbit of wisdom that he had been accustomed too as a child. No one heard those things anymore, no one heard a lot of things because no one - Gill or Hamilton would speak about her unless provoked or drunk.

He didn't waste much time in the graveyard, figuring that his problems could easily be fixed by going back to the house for another dreamless night to reevaluate everything. How had life suddenly gotten so overwhelming? Gill hadn't felt so out of his element in such a long time. Sometimes, he felt like everything was a dream that he woke up from and wasn't ready to confront when that letter was given to him. It was still in the house, tucked away neatly in his diary because he would never let himself forget what he had done. Acting like an ass, treating her like she was nothing and going on to do that with everyone afterwards. God, what would she do if she could see him now? Blanch and walk away? Probably. Gill knew that he would do the same if he were her. He would never admit that though, a Hamilton wasn't self-loathing.

The night was chillier than usual, his breath was little more visible as he trudged along the dirt path that led him to his crossroads. Continue to Flute Fields or Garmon Mines, or go to Clarinet Ranch? The answer was always the same and he took the barely visible path up to the farm where something was waiting for him. A cigarette was placed between his lips, the end the only light in the Castanet darkness and a horribly wrapped gift in his hands to appease the "ghosts that lived here." Chase came here on occasion for Gill and for himself, he had been close to her too. He missed her possibly not as much but he did, and that's why he always brought a present when he came.

"You look like shit," his voice was a rich tenor, deeper than Gill's which was surprising because his dainter appearance. Compliments were a rare with Chase as he moved from the nearly broke pillar that held up the porch roof, offering an unknown hand gesture as an actual greeting instead of his observation.

Gill shrugged, extending a hand which drew back after a cigarette and lighter were placed into his palm and did the same as his friend. A bad habit that he would have to quit but for now, he could deal with the nicotine and the bad effects of what tobacco could do to you. "Yeah, well... You look no better," it was all that he could muster at the moment and it made Chase laugh which resulted in him laughing.

Silence ensued for a few moments as they inhaled and exhaled, their breath not being the only thing visible on this dark, starry night. The house creaked and groaned with age, begging them to come indoors and lay in the bedroom and reminiscence about a time where neither of them were quite as cold and cynical as they were now. Unlike Gill, who was hardly bundled up and freezing despite the fact he wouldn't admit it, Chase had actually put on tennis shoes and a scarf was slung around his neck. A pair of fingerless gloves adorned his hands and a lightweight jacket had been zipped up over his shirt. He must have gone shopping before the island had gone to the dogs.

"I brought a gift to appease the ghosts," Chase tried to joke, elbowing Gill in the ribs before being swatted at. "Hey, man. I'm just doing what I've always done. Plus, I'll even keep you company."

He was truly thankful to Chase at times like this, nodding his head in agreement as they walked inside with the wood moaning under the weight of their feet. It was a little different having him here but it was nice, they were best friends and sharing this was good. It was something that a therapist would applaud after years of trying to tell him to quit, that this was their place and not_ their_ place. Situating themselves in the right room with the proper holes in the ceiling and the abandoned bed set in the corner where she used to look out the windows on nights like this. The gift was left unopened and the boys were silent, drifting off into a sleep that they would rudely be awaken from tomorrow.

* * *

**Hi, guys! I've finally updated, thank god. **

**As you see, I have also ended this chapter with both Chase and Gill falling asleep in the house which they will be rudely awaken from tomorrow. **

**I hope you guys are enjoying the story ~ You can review, PM me, or do whatever. **

**I'm up for criticism, encouragement, conversations, and the whole nine yards. **

**See you soon, darlings. c: **

**Toodles, Paradi. **


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